


But If I Had to Perish Twice

by raven_aorla



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Backstory, Drama, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, M/M, Misunderstandings, Romance, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-17
Updated: 2020-09-17
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:15:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26515822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raven_aorla/pseuds/raven_aorla
Summary: For most people, the Sentence on the back of your neck is the first thing your soulmate will ever say to you. However, for an unlucky few, those words will actually be spoken by your worst enemy. Nicolo's Sentence is in Arabic letters. Yusuf's Sentence is written with Latin letters. What were they supposed to think?
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 21
Kudos: 368





	But If I Had to Perish Twice

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a lovely gif I saw of Joe briefly nuzzling the back of Nicky's neck.

On your twelfth birthday, a sentence appears low on the back of your neck, where it meets your shoulders. Someday, you will meet an important person, and this will be their first words to you. While for most people, these are the words of your soulmate, in rare cases these are in fact the words of your greatest enemy, and you will never find real happiness until your enemy is dead. If you touch that person skin to skin and they are your soulmate after all, the letters will turn from black to gold. 

When Nicolo reaches his twelfth year, the words that surface on the back of his neck are in _Arabic lettering_. Regardless of what it says, he assumes this couldn’t possibly be his true love. When the call comes to fight in the Holy Land, it seems like God’s plan for him. 

When Yusuf reaches his twelfth year, the words that surface on the back of his neck are in Latin letters. This doesn’t initially bring alarm, as his family are merchants who trade with people of many tongues, including ones that are written using that system. He learns what the words are, and they seem innocuous enough. However, when he is a grown man and still hasn't found his soulmate, Jerusalem comes under attack. This brings a darker significance to his Sentence. He draws a new conclusion along with his sword.

Then there is the battle that changes...most things. They kill each other at least a dozen times before Yusuf offers Nicolo a hand up from yet another resurrection. 

They shouted at each other in different languages before their first respective deaths, but this time, Yusuf actually wishes to communicate and addresses him in Greek. Even degenerate invaders must speak a little Greek, right? “You spoke my Sentence. Neither of us will find true happiness until the other is dead, and neither of us seem to be able to die. I suggest we seek the reason.”

The one who will soon introduce himself as Nicolo scowls rather than reaching for the hand. His pronunciation is weak but serviceable. “After, betray?”

“It’s not betrayal if there is no trust,” Yusuf points out, reasonably. He doesn’t say that this fighting is making him feel sick and sad in a way he never expected. He doesn’t know what the solution is, but it’s not what they’ve been doing. 

After a moment of thought, Nicolo grunts and takes his hand.

*

They’ve been traveling together for months, vaguely searching for the two women they both see in their dreams every night. There are no better leads for someone who could give them answers. Nicolo can’t help but be grateful to have a guide through these unfamiliar lands, one who is also a patient language teacher and vivid storyteller, one with the brightest smile he’s ever seen. Yusuf finds himself glad to have someone to trade off keeping watch, who always volunteers to gather firewood and tend to the horses, one who has brilliant and somber eyes but an unexpectedly sharp tongue when he chooses to employ it. 

_Surely, though, he is my enemy. He must be my enemy._

And the more fearful thought they share: _What have I done, what unforgivable things have I done, if I’m wrong? Would he still love me?_

It’s the bandits who force the issue. Three of them, raiding their little camp on a moonless night. Yusuf and Nicolo fight them off, but Yusuf ends up with a knife embedded in his skull, and he apparently can’t revive if it stays there. 

“I never thought of that one,” Nicolo muses to himself in Genoese. His heart feels heavy. Shouldn’t he be glad? If this is a permanent death for his ultimate foe, his life will be hereafter blessed. That’s what he’s always told himself. He’d be a fool to think otherwise...but...

Cursing under his breath, Nicolo drops to his knees and pulls the knife out. In the process, he glimpses of the lettering on the back of Yusuf’s neck, usually hidden by his shirt collar. He gasps and drags Yusuf’s body closer to the fire, into the light where he can be certain.

Yusuf wakes lying on his side, facing Nicolo, who is lying facing him with his eyes full of tears. He says, confused. “There’s no need to be upset that someone else killed me for once. Or are you distressed that I live still?”

Slowly, Nicolo rolls over so that his back is almost pressed to Yusuf’s chest. He reaches behind himself to brush his long hair aside, making the Sentence emblazoned on his skin visible. “My words in gold. On you. _’This is my destiny.’_ It’s good, for me. For you too? Must….happen when, um, your hand?” He mimes reaching up to accept an offer to help him off the ground. 

The words on Nicolo are also in gold. Yusuf feels like a man who has never known sweetness and has tasted honey for the first time. Not only are they soulmates, but Nicolo is glad of it. “Oh. Yes. _Yes._ ” He wraps his arms around Nicolo and closes the space between them, and buries his face in the soft warmth of his nape for a moment of pure joy. 

Nicolo exhales with relief from a burden he’d carried since he was twelve. Whatever obstacles might lie in their way now, being with his soulmate will make all things possible. “I know not what the meaning.”

Yusuf pulls back and traces the words with a fingertip. He speaks with quiet wonder. “ _‘You are the one.’_ ” Despite their first kiss not coming until after that (albeit immediately after), this is the happiest moment of his life.

*

_Almost a millennium later…_

“All I asked is if you always sleep like that, and if there's a special reason why,” Nile says, though her groan is clearly comedic and fond. She rubs the back of her own neck, her Sentence currently hidden under a loose scarf. All the others know is that she hasn’t met the speaker yet.

“Now you know better than to ask them anything about their relationship if you don’t want an epic tale,” Andy says with a dry smile. She’s leaning against an empty horse stall and drinking a cup of tea Nicky pressed onto her on his way to curling up with Joe. When Quynh was still with them, Andy left her Sentence bare for all to see, but since losing her she’s kept it covered with a wide black cloth band or choker of some kind at all times. Joe and Nicky remember that it’s in some kind of ancient Chinese characters, the earliest ever adopted by those living in what is now called Vietnam: _What do you want from me?_

“Our arrangement is also because he takes far too long to wake up in an emergency, so it’s best for me to face the door and him to have his back to a wall,” Nicky comments, adjusting the blankets around them both. The old barn they are sheltering in for the night is chilly. Nile has made a sort of sleeping bag/hay combination nest. 

“One may have both emotional and practical reasons for a habit,” Joe retorts, tucking Nicky closer to him. He presses his lips to the Sentence in front of him, as if to speak it anew.


End file.
